Sandfield Primary School

Challenge ourselves and one another, Learn together, Achieve success

English Curriculum

Useful website links:

Learn English

KS1

KS2

Supporting your Child with English

Supporting your Child with Grammar

English is a core subject of the curriculum and is taught every day at Sandfield. It is central to children’s ability to access the curriculum, underpinning a great deal of their understanding. Children are encouraged to use language expressively and to access and use a wide range of vocabulary in their speaking and listening and their writing across the entire curriculum. English is grouped into three key areas:

Writing

From Year 1 onwards, children have an hour of English each day in which they develop their skills as writers, using an increasing range of vocabulary and more complex sentence structures. They are given opportunities to write across a range of purposes and genres and for different audiences. The objectives covered in English lessons, against which children are regularly assessed, are taken from the 2014 National Curriculum.

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Alongside English lessons, all year groups have dedicated Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) lessons. These are in place to ensure children are more confident with the more mechanical aspects of writing, such as sentence formation, punctuation and ability to spell increasingly challenging words. Alongside this, each year group has a ‘SPaG week’ at least once per half term, to develop their ability to use these tools effectively in their writing.

Spelling and phonics are taught from Tuesday to Friday every week across the entire school, and children are expected to learn and practise High Frequency Words in school and at home. Every half term Sandfield will be hosting a ‘Spelling Bee’ to test High Frequency Words, so children need to keep practising!

Handwriting

Sandfield are having a big push for handwriting and presentation this year. We are extremely proud of the creative and interesting writing our children are able to produce, but now we need to make sure it looks as good as it sounds! Each year group has 10 minutes of dedicated handwriting practise a day, or practise with fine motor skills in order to improve their pencil grip and control.